Honey, the mysterious food used in medicine since ancient ages has puzzled people for centuries with it's healing effects on human wounds documented already by the Egyptians 2000 B.C.
Honey is produced by bees such as the honeybee Apis mellifera. The nectar bees collect from plants is a sweet liquid mostly composed of sucrose. By the time the bee returns to the hive, much of the sucrose is converted to glucose and fructose. Further, honey contains proteins, vitamins and minerals.
Presently, honey's therapeutic properties besides osmolarity and acidity, are explained by the hydrogen peroxide content as an action of peroxidase oxidase (White, et al. 1963 Biochem Biophys Acta 73, 57-70), the origin of the nectar by it's different flavonoid and phenolic acids content (Taormina, et al. 2001. Int J Food Microbiol 69(3), 217-225; Wandan, H. A. 1998. Infection 26(1), 26-31), and an unidentified component (Molan, P. C. 2001. World Wide Wounds (online); Available from URL: worldwidewounds.com). Despite scientific efforts performed during the last 30 years (Lusby, P. E., et al. 2005 Arch Med Res 36(5), 464-467; Molan, P. C. 2006. Int J Low Extrem Wounds 5(1), 40-54 Int J Low Extrem Wounds 5(2), 122; Mundo, M. A., et al. 2004 Int J Food Microbiol 1, 97(1), 1-8) the mystery regarding many of honey's modes of action still remains to be solved.
The antimicrobial properties possessed by honey render honey suitable for use in the dressing of wounds, where it assists in preventing infection, the debridement of necrotic tissue, the deodorising of malodorous wounds and the minimisation of scar formation. Honey containing wound and skin caring products are known through WO2004000339 and WO03047642.
For centuries, honey has been used as a folk medicine for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections and wounds. Today, many of its antimicrobial characteristics have been recognized, however there are still unknown substances that contribute to this action.
It has been discovered that LAB symbionts from the honey stomach of honeybees are found in large concentrations in fresh honey as well as having a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity against various bee pathogens and bacteria and yeasts from flowers. We hypothesise that many of the unknown healing and antimicrobial properties of honey are linked with these LAB symbionts.
Bee diseases are infections and parasitic conditions concerning enormous agriculture economics loss. Two of several hive intruders are the wax moth larvae (WML; Galleria mellonella) and the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor. The larvae of the wax moth is known to feed on the bees wax that otherwise is used by the bees for breeding of new bees and storage of their honey. Varroa destructor is known to be the worst honeybee parasite resulting in destruction of infected colonies in many countries. (Papachristoforou, A., et al. 2012. PLoS ONE 7(10): e47432. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047432) suggests that honeybees have got their own defense using their mandibles to bite these invaders that are too small to sting. The honeybees seem to secrete 2-heptanone (2-H) from their mandibular glands when they bite. 2-H is used as an anaesthetic in small arthropods, such as wax moth larva (WML) and Varroa mites, which are then paralysed or killed after a honeybee bite and thrown out of the hive.
The Lactobacillus genus is one of the most important groups within Lactic acid bacteria (LAB). LAB and especially Lactobacillus is considered as beneficial bacterial genus commonly found in healthy individuals (Coenye, T. and Vandamme, P. 2003. Microbiology 149, 3507-3517; Ouwehand, A. C., et al. 2002. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 82, 279-289). They are commercially important for their use in dairy products and probiotics, causing beneficial effects in the host when administered (FAO/WHO 2002). Furthermore, Lactobacillus are well known for their preservative and flavor effects, e.g. in the food industry.